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Sri Lanka-elections and after Your Comments Dear Web Master, Please publish the letter written by Walter Jayawardhana in the Daily News of Tuesday 07, November 2000, as a reply to Asoka's letter apologising for the short comings of SU. Walters letter is a real eye opener for all of us expatriates to think twice before following these mushroom parties. Asoka is the President of the Sihala Urumaya (with Ranjith -Secretary SPUR a good friend of Champaka Ranawaka), and the Public Officer of SPUR in Melbourne. They collected over Rs 450,000 from unsuspecting expatriate community for the SU election. My argument with Ranjith and Asoka and all in the SPUR is that we criticise the Tamils (using TRO) for collecting money for the LTTE. But in the other hand we collect money for an Ultra Violent Sinhala Extremist party to come to power to wage against LTTE. What is the logic in our argument in accusing Tamils for there money collection. Are they doing anything wrong if we are doing the same thing? de Silva, Australia Sihala Urumaya is a
party of strange bedfellows The Two stories by another Sri Lankan shows how narrow we think about things happening around us in Sri Lanka. First regarding his story No 2. All Sri Lankan born Australian Citizens who live in Australia for the last 30 years, support the Sri Lankan Cricket Team when ever they play here in Australia. We go in thousands to support the Sri Lankan Team against the Australian Team, that is not a sign of betrayal of the country where we citizens, but only a affection to our motherland. Australians like it as they encourage multicultural interactions. Tamils living in the up-country area may be showing the same affection and not trying to undermine the place they live. Who knows how many of them are still holding the Indian passports and not granted the Sri Lankan Citizenships? Please treat these as minor problems in a multicultural society we live need to tolerate small things like this. DO NOT EXAGGERATE INSIGIFICANT THINGS. Storey 1 Your friend should have used a Land Agent to pursue the matter and purchased the land from Thonda's. We Sri Lankan ( including myself) easily give-up things. You must meet facts with facts. Like the Muslim community in Sri Lanka use another Tamil to get the Land. Money talks in Sri Lanka better than anything. Ask your friend to pursue the matter but not to give up. Please do not take these insignificant things as big problems. Try to understand the mind of others. de Silva, Australia
My dear friends of Lankaweb,
I was trying to make a peaceful living in Sri Lanka from 1996 to 1999 by farming two lands, one 50 Acre block in Ulhitiya and the other at Palmerston, Lindula of 7 Acres. Most of the time I was at up-country land, which is situated in Malaya-nadu of "Great Thondaman". . Story No.1; . In 1998, an aquantence of mine, one son in law of a reputed real estate tycoon in Kurunegala, came to know a certain part of a Tea Estate on Gampola-Nuwara-Eliya road was for sale. He went with his father in law to see the estate. They went to a big bungalow and spoke to the owner. As they got down from the car and inquired about the land, the owner's first word was that "We don't sell our lands to Sinhalese. You get lost!". Do you know who this big man was? None other than a Saumyamoorthi Thondaman- junior. This is a true story I can prove. Isn't he another Tamil Tiger? Today our noble Sinhalese leaders are sleeping with them. I know this story because they visited me from there, to see my land too. (Whichever party comes to power they are Cabinet Ministers. It is not a surprice, that, Varadaraja Perumal too is going to be another cabinet minister.) . Story No.2; . During the limited over Cricket match between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, India finally won the match. That is not my story, what matters was after that. From my land I could see Nanu-Oya area to the north and Talawakelle town to the south. The whole area erupted with the noice of fire crackers, which I have not heard even during Sinhala-Tamil New year day. Can you see the level of allegiance of UP-COUNTRY TAMILS to Sri Lanka? . See the plight of our nation. Thanks to Dr.N.M.PERERA Thondaman became a Sri Lankan citizen and today they are our masters in the Up-Country and Her Excellency President Chandrika B Kumaratunga on her knees. Another Sri Lankan
Ragu, USA Engineer Annaaaaaah!!!!!! What else you expect from a guy who was tourtured for
five years. You should be happy he just bomb telecom!!!!!Now should
know why he did that. Who knows this charge may also be fabricated.
Arresting some one toutre him for FIVE YEARS , releasing him after because
'LACK OF EVIDENCE'!!!!Or is it you couldn't get a confesion after five
years of toutring Even worse Having Tea with him, calling that a good
Budhist practice. Annaaaaah!!!Outside Sri Lanka they call this Bulxxxx
PRACTICE. And this 'Lack of evidence' cases are still normal. If you
don't believe me go see your SL Court doccuments. Is it happening in
your adopted country Philipines, or the great Malayasia too? Jayamanna-KSA Dear Sir, Does he possess supporting facts to justify such mythical existence of Tamil kingdom(if not through distorted history) in the island Sri lanka?. Furthermore, he is in an attempt to legitimize the emergence of LTTE by prevaricating the truth; thus, intentionally instill the fake facts in international community. Personally speaking, I appeal Mr. Ganesh whose identify is yet to know to refrain from issuing barren statements, therefore bogus facts just to justify the romantic hallucination of Tamil homeland as well as ruthless terrorists organization as a promoting factor of fund-rising LTTE’s propaganda.
De Silva, Australia Dear Sir, It is with great pleasure I read the news item about
the unconditional support the JVP Parliamentarians are extending to
the PA Government to overcome the problems created by the NUA to continue
the good work for the benefit of the Country. This gesture in the true
political ideals of the JVP may be able to create a national government
to solve all the current problems in our mother Lanka soon. Keep up
the good work JVP. Engr. A. S. K. Weerakkody Annah, By Ganesh - United Kingdom You fell for my pseudonym and thought I was a Tamil. Your comments therefore brought out your intrinsic views on Tamils. How sad! Please read again what I wrote. It had nothing to do with being a Tamil, Singhalese or a Muslim! The situation in each country is different. What works well for Malaysia may not work for Sri Lanka. Nevertheless Annah, you have got your facts wrong about Malaysia. The Malays are only 60% and Chinese as high as 35%. That is not the point. The Chinese, Indians and Ceylonese all moved into Malaysia only within the last one hundred years as 'economic migrants' in about the same time during which the Tamil speaking Indians came to work in the estates in Sri Lanka. On the other hand the Tamils of Sri Lanka have lived in the North and East for about two thousand years. They had their own kingdoms in Sri Lanka prior to western invasions. Engineer Annah, you did not know that there was racial riots in Malaysia in 1969. Malays and Chinese killed each other. I was in Kuala Lumpur then and Neil Armstrong was on his way to the moon about that time. The position of the Chinese in Malaysia cannot be equated to that of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. They are largely a business community arrived in that part of the world to trade and make money. They then invest their money in Perth, Australia so that they can go and retire there. The Chinese in Malaysia are happy to have a Malay partner (commonly known as the sleeping partner) in business to satisfy state requirements, and are happily making tons of money. Why Annah, did you miss neighbouring Singapore for comparison? Chinese 75%, Malays 15%, while Tamil speaking Indians and Ceylonese put together only 5%. English is the language in use while Chinese, Malay and Tamil occupy equal places as official languages. Each and everyone can practice his own religion in the way he likes. The few Singhalese too are happy over there, even without any recognition for their language! Engineer Annah, your examples of a couple of Tamils in Kurunagela is not an expression of a satisfied Tamil population in Sri Lanka. The point that I was making is that the politicians in Sri Lanka use the 'language card' and the 'religion card' in various ways so as to get elected into power. There is no evidence that the language, religion or the people had benefited from their promises. They only brought the country to ruins. Mr Bandaranayake came out with his 'Sinhala only in 24 hours' in the mid-fifties. That worked; he won the elections and came to power! He wanted to give more jobs for the Singhalese because the Tamils occupied public positions disproportionate to population figures. Tamils had better schools but no natural resources in the North so that they concentrated on education. Bandaranayake had the formula to win the elections, but not the intention or approach to rectify the imbalance. The correct way to rectify that imbalance would have been to create more and better schools in the south and improve the education for the Singhalese. The methods subsequently adopted however were to regulate entries into universities and into jobs based on race and not on merit. Wasn't that the starting point for the emergence of LTTE? Even after penalising Tamils and favouring Singhalese on higher education and jobs, you, Engineer Annah, are crying that the poor Singhalese are remaining poor. Isn't that the irony? That is my point! The emergence of Sihala Urumaya, in my opinion, is a further extrapolation of the unhealthy trend in Sri Lankan style of electioneering. If ever they win power the country will divide itself into two!
From Engr.A.S.K.Weerakkody, of Central Luzon-Philippines. Aiyoh! Aiyoh! Ganesh Thambi-UK, Thanks for your advice, but you had better give that advice to your Hon.Prabhakaran, Anandasagaree, Douglas Devananda, Rauf Hakeem and also to my classmate Abdul Rasool of some Muslim Kachchi. Do you think PA or UNP is for majority Sinhalese? You are well mistaken. They are for themselves and want to suck the blood of foolish Singhalese and earn more and more money by hook or by crook for them and for their generations to come. May be you do not know how corrupt they are. Have you ever heard of a Country called Malaysia? Do you know more than 75% of its population are Malays? About 18% are Chinese and the balance is Indians, Tamils and even Singhalese. Do you know it is a Muslim Country? And prominence is given to Malays when it comes to Jobs. Muslim Malays are number one in everything. There is no communal violence in that country. Chinese are not asking for a separate country. Economy is doing very well. Other minorities are quite happy with the system. Ganesh Thambis are very friendly with Singhalese in the south of SriLanka. They stay together, work together, eat together and bomb the Singhalese together without much repercussion. In fact the man Balendran who bombed the Telecom building long time ago is a very good friend of mine. I am one of the five Singhalese who attended his wedding in 1975 at Chankanei in Jaffna when he was assistant Manager, Peoples Bank Jaffna. We were Army Officers at Palaly at that time. He was released after five years due to lack of evidence, and as a coincidence I met him the same day as he was released. He cried holding my hand. He looked so miserable and helpless but, yet, I had tea with him as a good practicing Buddhist.(I was no more in the Army) So can you see Ganesh Thambi, if you don't ask for; separate states, more jobs than your population proportions, and do not ill-treat Singhalese in Singhalese areas we can co-exist like in Malaysia. If you come to my hometown Kurunegala you can see how Tamil Doctors and Businessmen are doing very well there. Nobody is trying to kill them. They make money out of Singhalese. Can we do that in Vavunya and beyond? Can we even think of that? Upali, Nugegoda Sihala Urumaya certainly set a record in Sri Lankan politics. No other party has managed to disillusion its voters as quickly - within a week of the election. I think SU will need a very long time indeed to regain the confidence of the people.
Janaka V.G., UK Dear Fellow Sri Lankans, After seening the pathetic in-fighting that took place within SU after the elections, it seems that the Sinhala people, indeed voted wisely in rejecting SU. This party showed it's true colours - as a biggoted, indeciplined and violent organization. It breaks my heart to see these incredibly incompetent and uncrupuleuous people coming to office. When will a truely deciplined, intelligent and resourceful and truely national - regardless of race and religion - leadership come to Sri Lanka. It is TOTALY AND ABSOLUTLY neccessary that those of you, who are capable, be willing to give up your comforts and your security and come forward NOW and give this country proper leadership, NOW. Appo, USA
Condragulations to SU. You have managed to waken up the people of Sinhale. That
alone is a major victory. SLG is only one aspect, which I believe was
somewhat necessary. The more important aspect is not to loose your focus-
on the issue. The righs of the People of Sinhale will have to be now
faught for in Parliament. If you do that, then you may be able to bring
back many 'SLGs" Ganesh -United Kingdom Dear Sri Lankans When will you learn? To learn that the 'Religion card' should not be played in politics. More so in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country.It is bad for the country and bad for the religion. Leave religion out of politics, the religion will prosper and the country will prosper. All the problems the country faces now are brought about by politicians bringing 'language' and 'religion' into politics. Your country is doomed if this continues.The LTTE phenomenon is created by these politicians. Now they use LTTE as the scapegoat. Aiyoh! Aiyoh! When are you going to learn?
Shelton of London Dear Sir, I was intrigued to read de Silva's e mail dated 12th October 2000 at 1531 hrs. He goes on to say " "Samoan Deiyo" is a very powerful god and I worship him as he helps people.but as the God new SU is so bad even he refused to help these guys in coming to power". Firstly the SU would have been pathetic to request the help of "Samoan Deiyo", please reiterate whether it is Western Samoan or American Samoan Deiyo and secondly if SU wanted help from a loopy person and his Samoan Deiyo may Saman Deviyo help SU. Also note SU was not intent in coming to power but to get few seats in a hung parliament to look after the interests of the Sinhalese people and the post election events though highly regrettable but the struggle to look after the rights of the Sinhalese people has to go on.
Fran, USA Dear Webmaster: I have read all the comments so far on the Sihala Urumaya. Since it is still a fledgling party, I think the Sinhala people should forgive and forget the recent events of thoughtlessness and bad manners. I feel that the older people and the younger ones in the party should treat each other with greater respect. EVERY MEMBER IS IMPORTANT. It is a great pity that someone of Mr S.L. Gunasekera's integrity and ability should have had to resign from the SU. Also, to me it appears to be almost unforgiveable that the unruly elements in the party manhandled the Professor, his wife and servant. Do people fly out of control like this ? Maybe it would be well for all committee members of the party to do some Buddhist meditation together before sessions. It would clear their thinking and consequently their actions. The SU committee members should learn to think clearly and keep their FOCUS. A few moments should be taken before the SU meetings to read out what their GOALS are. All is not lost. It is not too late for those who lost their heads to apologize to Mr Gunasekera, the Professor & family, and also to all those who supported the SU with great personal sacrifice. Above all, apologize to the Sinhala people who supported the SU with all their hopes and funding, and felt broken hearted at the bad behavior and poor planning re leadership etc. Treat the bad events as a LESSON and move on. Good Luck, SU!!!
SIHALA URUMAYA WAS A PARTY OF STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Walter Jayawardhana .....The mob later walked to the house of Indraratne and allegedly assaulted the 72 year old professor, and his wife for proposing the name of Gunasekera. Mrs. Indraratne who is a doctor, told the Narahenpita police, she had to bite the hand of a young man in the robes of a Buddhist monk, to free his feeble husband from him....... Asoka, Australia My dear friends, I am writing this letter with a very heavy heart after learning about the appalling election defeat, the extremely disgraceful quarrel and the enormously damaging split in the nationalist movement that was Sihala Urumaya (SU). You may wonder why read, let alone seriously consider, a letter from a faceless person you have never met or have spoken to. Suffice it to say that I am one of the few people who risked their credibility and sacrificed their precious time and expended hard earned money to introduce Jathika Ekabhaddatha Kamituwa and NMAT at first and SU later to people in Australia. Ours was a battle against odds, trying to introduce relatively obscure groups (labelled by the government and the opposition as "racist" and "extremist") and raise funds. Although we managed to send several thousands of dollars at various times, the battle to rally the people behind your movements was never won. Finally, when the elections were looming, these few people even took personal bank loans to send whatever funds we did send in the weeks before the election. Now, I wish to categorically state that these patriotic people have been badly let down by the series of events that took place soon after the announcement that SU has been awarded a seat in the Parliament. I have heard various versions of what happened, depending on where the information originated. They differ in part or in the main. My resultant assumptions may not be exactly accurate, but I suppose they are closer to the truth than any one version. Let me first apologise for the unknown inaccuracies before delving into the issue. To me, it looks as if SU disintegrated into two main camps: The camp of the youths and the camp of the seniors. There seem to be others who are watching the situation with genuine concern and some others who attempt to manoeuvre the developments this way or that way. The youths, mainly of NMAT, believe that they, with their public demonstrations and protests over the past few years, built up the background and did most of the ground work for SU. They also claim that they got more votes than others because of the superb oratory of their leader Mr Champika Ranawaka (CR). Some of them also accuse the seniors of treating them as inferiors, calling them as "boys" and addressing them as "thamuse" and "Ise". We must not forget that NMAT did a great job in pressurising the government not to yield to the separatist calls and the leading role they played in defeating the package, for the time being. We must not underestimate their commitment, bravery, sacrifice and energy which were so well exhibited in taking the struggle to the streets rather than struggling in armchairs or at writing tables. If some of the seniors treated them as expendable juveniles with scant respect, it is an insult to their learning and maturity. Such unacceptable behaviour should have bee corrected by others, if not by themselves, whenever it was evident. We must also realise that the quintessential grass root foothold cannot be acquired without this young blood and the monks who are closer to the common man than the professionals, the intellectuals and the elite are. In any democracy, the common man is the most important factor; even the most noble principles and policies will be of no value if the message cannot be taken to the masses with dynamism and vigour. It must be admitted that those two valuable elements are more with the youth than with the seniors. On the other hand, the seniors are furious over the indecent thuggery the youths resorted to after Mr S.L.Gunasekara (SLG) was selected as the sole parliamentary representative with majority vote. The despicable manhandling of Professor Indrarathna (IR) and alleged intimidation of Mr Thilak Karunaratna should be condemned unequivocally. Any sane person should clearly understand that thuggery, hooliganism and threatening behaviour are curses to a fledgling movement trying to make an impression among the people. Moreover, even in a nominal democratic environment, triumphs obtained by any group through such conduct is temporary and the long term repercussions are far more severe. These youths who should have been endeavouring to get rid of the stigma of "terrorist elements" inside SU, have done exactly the opposite. They have provided effective ammunition to their critics by such contemptible behaviour. It looks as if they had been trying to resurrect the Singhala heritage as believed by one school of thought who say that Singhalayas are descendent from a son who killed his father! They, who are proud about the votes they attracted because of their dynamism as well as the splendid oratory of their idol CR; they who are critical about the loss of votes due to SLG's refusal to offer flowers at the Temple Of The Tooth; should stop to think about the larger number of votes they lost because of their impudence and the blemished track record of their idol. The youths who point out that Bhumiputhras criticised them because of SLG's agnosticism, must realise the reason for not only the loss of support of, but sometimes also acrid criticism by, such well known local nationalists as Mr Gunadasa Amarasekara, Professor Nalin de Silva and Mr Dinesh Gunawardana as well as expatriate nationalists like Mr Douglas Wickramaratna and Mr Walter Jayawardana. As far as I know, except for the few people in the SU branches in UK and Australia, the entire expatriate community turned their back on SU because of the alleged former JVP connections of CR and his later relationship with treacherous Mangala Samaraweera. These people argued that such a person, with whatever strengths, should be identified as a power-maniac without real convictions and could end up in any camp for his own benefit. Some people in Sri Lanka also accuse the youthful leadership of covertly undermining SLG's campaign by not directing preference votes to him. Whatever the truth of these allegations and opinions are, in my belief, one cannot deny that the leadership provided by SLG and the contribution of seniors such as IR and Dr Piyasena Disanayake gave some much needed respect and credibility to SU. Their piqued departure from what is left of SU is certain to be an enormous blow to Sri Lankan nationalism. Having said all of above, we still realise that the sky has not yet fallen and the earth is still spinning. What has happened has happened. It is now up to you -those who are still left in the SU- to make up your mind not to allow repetitions of the foolish, selfish, short sighted and grave mistakes of the past and look to the future with a sense of constructive criticism and a willingness to pardon and be pardoned. Remember, one cannot even learn to ride a bicycle if he/she keeps looking near rather than afar. Whatever support, moral or otherwise, from many outsiders such as us will be dependent upon what SU proves itself to be: a group of people who place the interests of the nation before their egos, who give priority to vision rather than strengths, who instantly identify selfishness and opportunism within themselves and banish them instead of denial, people who treat their comrades-in-arms with the highest respect whatever their petty shortcomings are, people who can discuss and even argue with colleagues but not openly insult them, people who have the ability to attract rather than to repulse, people without the stubbornness to say sorry when wrong, people who have the grace to accept apologies when wronged, people who would not do or say anything to prevent opening their arms to patriots who left you, whom you left and who still did not join you…….. If SU is willing to prove its worth, then, everything is not lost. At the least, you now have a voice in the Parliament to present your collective image to the nation. Remember, it took twenty five years for the JVP to get a parliamentary seat, which you got in a few weeks. The JVP, albeit extremely well structured compared to SU, suffered several splits which at those times were thought would deliver the coup-de-grace to the movement. They even went to courts fighting for the one seat they had. But with resolve and commitment, they overcame the seemingly unsurmountable barriers and, after three decades of struggle, now have 10 seats in the Parliament. The JVP agenda is still shrouded in incomprehensible old marxist jargon and the people at large still regard them as aliens speaking a different lingo. No wonder, it took this long for them to get 10 seats. In contrast, the SU agenda is crystal clear to the people, if they open their eyes and realise that their sheer survival is at stake. Very soon, they will have to open their eyes or close them forever. It is most probable that this so called government would collapse within a few months, if not weeks. Unlike at the last election, where SU had hardly any time to prepare, and also had to take many things for granted, there will now be a much better opportunity to spread the message nationwide and project an acceptable image. That can be done if and only if you unite; apologize and be pardoned now, before it is too late; earnestly invite those patriots who left you to accept your sincere apologies and return to SU; offer them the seat without any conditions. Be sincere in what you do and you'll be surprised by the change in attitude of others. Those of you who left SU must put the interests of the country before self esteem, self-pity and the sense of indignation. After all, our arch enemies are Prabhakaran and other separatists (including some of the government leaders), certainly not some people inside SU. Hoping for unity never again to be destroyed, and keenly watching the developments,
Engr.A.S.K.Weerakkody, Philippines. I fully agree with Australian Citezen Shyyamon Jayasinghe's last clause in last para."People get the government they deserve". I come from the generation, where my great great grandfather was the one, involved, in blasting off the Portugese Fotress thereby chasing Portugese from SriLanka. I hold the Ola Leaf book given to him by the King "Rajasinghe". I always have a great pain about my religion and as to what is happening to my country. That is why I still hold the SriLankan passport despite the fact that I am out of the country in many parts of the world for the last 20 years. My born Catholic, Philippine wife is a Buddhist too. This time I spent about US$1000 for donations and IDD calls in canvessing and converting people to Sihala Urumaya, from the Philippines. Finally, we were cheated by them. I always have a very low opinion about our Sinhalese.
It is very unfortunate to say that it is very difficult and sometimes dangerous to make aquantence with a Sinhalese we see on a foreign land. Once I was working in a Pacific Island, where there were two other Singalese only. One of them was very keen on sending me home from my job in graitude to trying to save his life from a canible. From the election results we can see majority of the Sinhalese are not worried whether "Dalada Maligawa" is flattened to the ground, "Sri Maha Bodhiya" is uprooted.
Most funny thing is they also appreciate that some body else is casting their votes so that they are saved from the trouble of going to the polling booth. They will say "Sadhu" when the next minister for Buddhism and Sinhala affairs are goiung to be "Daglass Devananda or Rauf Hakeem". This is time we need hundreds of "Anagarika Dharmapala"s to save Sri Lanka but we won't. No Sinhalease political party represents political will of ill-fated SinghaleseBy Ugitha Thusara of KSA.Almost nine (9) days over the election; PA is in trouble
water with minority parties who are taking a country on ransom while
UNP being a ruined party is dreaming to clip the wings of Presidency.
JVP having won 10 seats on the other hand still imaging Marxist theory
while it is berating final breath in modern capitalist word. However,
11th parliament sitting with 225 member assembly is now ready to elect
the speaker, most probably Anura Bandaranayke who later on bared the
hatchet in family oriented politics. Furthermore, the parliament will
consists of new faces of scruples opportunist together with same narrow
polo patches who got once a again chance of representing political will
of the ill fated countrymen. All seems to be good news!!. Dear Editor I refer to Don's comments, it appears to me that "Don from W'ton,UK" has never been to Dalada Maligawa in Sri Lanka. Let me explain to him the difference between worshipping at Dalada Maligawa and offering a tray of flowers to the Sacred Tooth Relic. Worshipping at Dalada Maligawa normally be done by Buddhist devotees or by some Hindus, but, just to pay respect anybody can offer a tray of flowers. When national or international dignitaries go there, according to the well established convention there, visitors pay respect to the Sacred Tooth Relic by offering a tray of flowers. This has been practiced even before Kandy city was captured by British in 1815, and today, by hundreds of tourists those who visit this historic place of worship for Buddhists world over. So it is not like visiting a Jewish synagogue in Golders Green (North London) Sam - Central London
Don from W'ton, UK
Dear Editor; "I refused to offer a tray
of flowers to the Sacred Tooth Relic as I do not practice any religion.
I did not want to act in a hypocratic manner in the presence of the
people for mere political gains,"S.L.Gunesekara Sam -London
This is the summary of e-mail communications Lankaweb
had with Mr. De Silva in Australia;
17:11 03/10/00 +1100 7 RE: A VOTE FOR THE SIHALA URUMAYA IS A WASTE Dear Sir, The point of view expressed by VKP in his letter " A vote for the Sihala Urumaya is a necessity" to the OPINION PAGE is based on false presumptions. The word "Sihala Urumaya" has no valid meaning. Is the Political part using the word "Sihala Urumaya"is expecting the voters to believe that they are trying to secure the lost heritage of the Sinhala Buddhist people in Sri Lanka or in general all Sri Lankan Sinhala people. The word Sihala, according to my understanding is a word used to express the people in Sihala Rata or Sihale. That means all the Sinhala people in the country? or all the people Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and all others. The word "Sihala Urumaya" is more controvocial than the people who are in the fore front of this political party. The write VKP state in his letter" The people of this country however had no choice but elect either the UNP or the SLFP/PA at the elections because there was no viable alternative. The JVP with its history of two bloody insurrections and its extreme marxist policies was not an attractive choice." VKP has forgotten that among the Organisers of the "Sihala Urumaya" Champ-k is one of the old JVP leaders from the 1983 insurrection. Not only he was a leader of that 1983 era, he was a "super grass" (in prisoners terms). He left the JVP and gave information about the JVP Leaders. It is a well known fact that he passed all secrets of the JVP to then UNP government and many of the leaders, including the JVP leader Wijeweera was assassinated by the UNP. If the JVP is accused of having a history of bloody insurrections and its extreme marxist policies, can we exclude Champ-k not to bring back these extreme marxist views into the Sihala Urumaya intime to come? The Sinhala saying that " Kotiya ( Tiger) never changes his spots by leaving the jungle he lives" may come correct this time. If the real extreme ideas of the Leaders of the Sihala Urumaya are well exposed the people who are expecting to vote for the Sihala Urumaya may think that they are wasting their vote by electing them (even to a single seat). It is very sad to see how people in foreign countries (who don't have a VOTE in this election and holding foreign passports) canvass for this party Sihala Urumaya and collect fund to run the election. It is my view that people who left the country for greener pastures should avoid implicating themselves in politics, as we advocate that Tamils should not support LTTE by collecting FUNDS. If the Sihala Urumaya is going to bring back the Sinhala glory back, that should include the lost privileges of the Sinhala Buddhist people. VKP and all other Sinhala brothers and sisters living in comfort are under an illusion that the Sihala Urumaya leader can do this. VKP states that the Sihala Urumaya's main contention is the war should be won militarily. This is another illusion of many of our brothers and sisters as they have little understanding of this war and the strength of the LTTE. We must remember that LTTE and the people who support it do that with a conviction to hurt the Sinhala people and to disrupt the Economy so as to achieve their goals. We Sinhala people are divided into many camps, UNP,SLFP/PA, Sihala Urumaya, JVP etc,etc, and try to win this war with arm chair generals like Sihala Urumaya leaders. Major general Janaka Perera is a good army leader, so is Major General Sarath Fonseeka and many more Generals in the Army. They are not in a position to win this war by themselves. They need the help of all other services like Air Force, Navy and the Police and the Officers of all these services including the very valuble NCO's. If Sihala Urumaya is under a illusion that M.G.Janka Perera is the only person who can win this war then it is a mistake, as they underestimate the value of the others in this war. Sihala Urumaya and all those people who support it must think that the objectives of Sihala Urumaya are not second to the Objectives of many other parties contesting this election. Sihala Urumaya may come to understand that they may be not able to protect the unitary states of this small country of ours as long as LTTE is not suppressed. How to do this? By killing them or by having a round table meeting. All this was experimented by UNP and the SLFP/PA without any success. [Sihala Urumaya should understand that the Sri Lankan economy is controlled by the LTTE now with well placed International companies in Sri Lanka under the open economy. Secretary of the Sihala Urumaya, a well known businessman owing a very large private enterprise may be aware of this situation]. The other objectives of this party are similar to all other parties( UNP; SLFP/PA; JVP, and as such, people of Sri Lanka may be wasting their vote by voting for SIHALA URUMAYA as they may go on the same direction as other political parties. As I have no vote I am not privilege to request any Sri Lankan people to vote for any party. But use your vote wisely and select a party which can do to stop this unnecessary war but not the Sihala Urumaya. deS
11:29 05/10/00 +1100 14 RE: A VOTE FOR THE SIHALA URUMAYA IS A WASTE Dear Web Master, Not all educated Sinhala people are with the SU. I have no grudge with Sihala Urumaya. We need some change but some of the people are in the SU for their sake only. I always treat Champ-k as the guy who gave all inside information about JVP in 1983. Not that I am supporting them. I was one officer who got them down in 1971. So he is one of the mistakes in the SU. I am also a Academic with Sri Lankan Armed Service experience, but I balance my view about Sri Lankan politics. I have a pipe line where I get all the valuable info from SL. As you said SU is not gone to people in the village level as the JVP has taken the issue of destroying the SU at the village level. because of Champ-k. As a old hand from the SLAir Force I am questioning some of the objectives of the SU. Anyhow I wish them luck. According to the information I get SU may not get more than few seats, very limited to put their objectives into force. When you think about people who has gone to politics, most of them lost their ideas after sitting at that place. Take Late Premadasa, I worked with him when he was a Minister. At that time he was the best. Then I met him as the PM, in Kenya when I was working for the UN. then he was OK. I helped him to established the housing projects. What happened after he became the President. So all politicians are same. All politicians are power hungry. Do you think SU people
may be the same once they go to the Parliament? Good Luck with your
work. 15:31 12/10/00 +1100 15 RE: A VOTE FOR THE SIHALA URUMAYA IS A WASTE, VOTERS VERDICT Dear Web Master, Do you agree with me now, that a "Vote for the SU is a waste, now that SU got fairly and squarely beaten". According to information gathered by myself I knew that SU want get even a single seat, but to make you happy I said that they may get few. From your last note I notice that you do not live in SL, and you as everybody else was under the false impression that these guys are super heroes. Gunaseekara, and Karu may be good politicians to many of us who live in foreign countries, but they have changed their parties on many occasions and like other Sri Lankan politicians they are also want the power. SL people are more educated than all of us who think a degree is the ultimate education. SL politics are very different to die hard sinhala organisational politics. In your last letter you mentioned that all educated people are behind the SU. That means only 121,855 educated people are in Sri Lanka. Ambalangoda with a very large educated lot (99%) gave only SU 488 votes, that shows that SU was not treated on the education line. The Sinhala people who live in foreign countries are of the opinion that the Government in power(UNP SLFP?PA) is doing everything wrong and they are corrupt to their teeth. Most of us if happened to be in SL fall in to the same groups and will follow the same path. I am very sad to note that a web site so popular with so many Sri Lankans took a one sided view and did everything to support the SU when so many of your readers are not supporting the SU. This playing of politics by the world wide organisations put us not second to LTTE Fund raising groups, and in the same boat as them. Now as we are divided among oversleeves we will not be able to put a strong united front to fight the LTTE work world wide. We the foreigners should allow the people in SL to mind their politics and we mind what is good for the country -SL- in a broad manner. We should not engaged in politics for the sake of our fight with the LTTE. "SAMOAN DEIYO" is a very powerful God and I worship him as he helps people, but as the GOD new SU is so bad even he refused to help these guys in coming to power. What a shame that all those educated lot, lost their election deposits by trying to save the country from evil sprits. I am expecting you (as a honest editor) to leave politics in the back burner and concentrate on the problems of Sri Lanka as a whole. Regards, de Silva, 13:27 17/10/00 +1100 3 RE: SIHALA URUMAYA :HAS THEY LOST THEIR URUMAYA Dear Editor, Sihala Urumaya is fighting to share the "Urumaya" they got on the basis of national representation, and lost their Leader now. As I said earlier, Mr. Champaka Ranawaka the old JVP terrxxx has shown his true colours and taken his 'goon' to Prof. Indraratna's house to show the Sihala Urumaya members how they should share the only Urumaya they have received unexpectedly. Sihala Urumaya is not going to be a political party of worth and may get dissolved very soon. The reason for this is that the people behind this party are not real politician who wants to save the country, but try to get in to power. All those people living in foreign countries should understand that they should allow the Sri Lankan people to mind their business and not to interfere with the politics in Sri Lanka. We should say 'Good by Sihala Urumaya' for the sake of the people in our mother Lanka. de Silva
Dear Editor Let those who live over
there decide their fate through the available political processes. 1. That the elections were rigged in numerous polling stations is beyond debate. Since the 1970s SL has been, like water finding its own level, sliding down into corruption in all spheres following the broad pattern in 3rd world countries. The last elections were a reflection of this trend. 2. The distortion of the election process, however, affected
the relative position of the two major parties. Parties like SU cannot
seek explanation of their plight on that score. Sinhalese voters have
changed and matured over the last three decades for various reasons.
Appeals to ethnicity and Buddhism, beyond a point, no longer strike
a chord with them. 3. The SU platform contained two elements: the idea of a third force and the appeal; to Sinhala-Buddhist sentiments. The first was sound and it could have worked if not for the pre-established JVP movement. The second was counterproductive. Indeed it is dangerous from the point of view of sustaining a multicultural Sri Lankan polity and keeping it together. 4. SL people have through long political experience come to accept the two major parties as, perhaps, necessary evils. They have come to regard politicians' claims to purity with cynicism. The current crisis in the SU with SLG resigning over demands of other colleagues (defeated) for a rotation of the only parliamentary seat SU had won, would simply confirm the view of the population that "all are the same" or that "all are equally human". 5. SL expatriates are thus advised to exercise caution
in interfering with SL domestic politics. We must (1) focus our efforts
on countering LTTE international propaganda (2) sending funds for the
welfare of our defence forces (3) sending funds towards hapless public
institutions like Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Cancer Hospital and to the
poor and needy. 6. In short, let those who live over there decide their fate through the available political processes. SL governments may be corrupt. But there is pretty little we can do about that. Plato said:" governments vary as the dispositions of men vary…we cannot suppose that States are made of 'oak and rock' and not out of the human natures which are in them". Perhaps a more commonplace way of saying the same thing is to say that people get the governments they deserve. SHYAMON JAYASINGHE Endeavour Hills. Vic 3802. Australia |
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